His mind-spirit hadn’t been overwhelmed by the Silent King. Come to think of it, such a spirit designed by Northstrider combined with a Sage’s will made him well-suited for this battlefield.
He could be an asset. If he didn’t get vaporized in the first second.
Lindon erupted in a globe of pure madra, wiping out some techniques and weakening others. His cloud dispersed, but he stayed floating on aura in midair.
The King locked eyes on him, and she felt a flare of hunger and dreams as the Dreadgod tried to devour his mind.
But that was one working not focused on her.
Malice swung her bow like a staff, and the army blocked with a shimmering shield. At the same time, she focused on the portal.
“Close,” Malice commanded.
The portal shuddered as the remaining will of the Dreadgod resisted hers.
Malice pushed against him, clawing for any advantage. She didn’t have much time. If Lindon held him for a whole second, that would be impressive enough.
Lindon’s senses were drawn into an imaginary space, and he fought to escape. His body could be torn apart on the outside, and he would feel nothing.
But Dross’ dark-purple shape drifted by him and stopped him with a tendril on his shoulder. [This is a world without time.]
Lindon stopped wrestling to escape. If he understood Dross correctly, that meant that this place only existed in his imagination. Time on the outside would crawl as his mind was accelerated.
It certainly looked like a world without time: an endless white void. Just him and Dross.
Then, suddenly, a giant tiger.
As Lindon had seen before, the Silent King was recognizably a white tiger, but just as recognizably not a natural one. It had no fur, only smooth pale skin with black stripes like slices into a moonless night. Its face resembled a detailed Remnant’s rather than a sacred beast’s, and its crown shone bright as the sun.
“You chose to disobey me,” the King purred. “I told you what the consequences would be.”
Scenes appeared, replacing the featureless background. Lindon saw through the perspective of half a dozen different people.
Ziel and Orthos fled down a dark hallway, the Archlord desperately covering for the turtle.
Yerin fought side-by-side with the Blood Sage, both wounded and rapidly healing against a barrage of blood techniques that turned the night crimson.
Mercy surrounded herself with black webs and covered her body with amethyst armor, loosing arrow after arrow in defense of a crowd she couldn’t abandon.
Kelsa and Jai Chen huddled in fear on dirt as indistinct shapes flashed around them.
His parents, seen through a window, huddled and waited for the boundary field around them to fail.
Each scene wrapped icy fingers around Lindon’s heart, but he focused on the limited perspective of his family. The Silent King wasn’t showing him their surroundings.
“Pardon,” Lindon said, “but could you show me a different view of Kelsa?”
The tiger tilted its head.
[Oh yes,] Dross said eagerly. [I want to see The Fleshripper in action.]
“A different view. Very well.”
Kelsa and Jai Chen had been fighting in the Twin Star Sect territory in Serpent’s Grave. Now he saw the city from far away.
Smoke rose from it. It reminded him forcibly of the night the Jai clan had attacked the Arelius family.
The view of his parents had changed too; now, instead of a close-up on their house in Serpent’s Grave, he saw more people scurrying around the wreckage of surrounding buildings. Running. In chaos.
Under attack from another Dreadgod.
The view of Yerin now showed him the Redmoon Hall cloudship swaying drunkenly, its cloud base broken. The view of Orthos showed him an ancient castle crumbling.
“Are you proud of your plans now?” the Dreadgod asked.
Those icy fingers gripped Lindon’s heart…and his own fingers of white hunger madra squeezed into a fist.
His body wasn’t really present in this mental space, but he felt no difference. The hunger of the Slumbering Wraith was still there.
“Why me?” Lindon asked.
“You have trespassed on our domain,” the Silent King said. The giant tiger prowled around Lindon and Dross. “You’ve stolen a piece of us. You belong to us.”
Lindon held his arm up and forced his fist to un-clench. “Then why don’t you tear this from me?”
The white space over the tiger blackened, becoming an endless abyss. The Void Icon.
The Dreadgod looked up into its depths. “You have made our hunger part of your soul. The authority suits you. You belong with us.” The views of Lindon’s friends changed to people living ordinary lives, working in harmony. With white rings over their heads.